Concord Rangers suffer away defeat at Tilbury

Yahoo

19 hours ago

Concord Rangers' losing start to the 2025/26 season continued with a 2-0 defeat at Tilbury.
Both sides were reduced to ten men with former Beach Boy Jimmy Wallace getting sent off against his former club for a second bookable offence in the first half for Tilbury, before Chelmsford City loanee Kai Torres also saw red for Concord for an elbow in the second half.
Concord were on top for large periods and had the better chances, but they were the masters of their own downfall, conceding twice in the space of a minute with substitutes Nathan Best and Kieran Jones scoring near identical goals in quick succession to earn Tilbury a first three points of the campaign.
Concord had the first chance of the game with Bobby Kelman getting in behind, but his lobbed attempt went way off target.
After 20 minutes, a crucial goal-line clearance was required from Tilbury to stop the visitors from opening the scoring.
Sherquan Toussaint played the ball down the line for Khris Oti, whose cross was played back to Toussaint and his shot was blocked on the line by Luke Reeve - which, despite the appeals of the Concord players, was not given as a handball from the Dockers defender by the referee.
Just past the half hour, Concord would have a key referee decision go in their favour with the home side being reduced to ten men.
After Rangers had cleared an Oli Spooner free kick, the Beach Boys looked to break on the counter-attack with Oti, but he was brought down by a sliding challenge from behind by former Concord man Wallace, who was given his second yellow card of the evening.
Concord almost made the man advantage count on the stroke of half time, with Sammy Collins' side being frustrated by another goal-line intervention.
Torres teed up Kelman with a disguised pass, and he beat Harry Fairs to the ball, poking it across to Harrison Day whose back heel was stabbed off the line by Spooner.
The second half was inactive until 20 minutes from time when Concord were also reduced to ten men.
After Torres and a Tilbury player tussled for the ball following the awarding of a free kick, the Concord full back lashed out with an elbow to the face that resulted in him becoming the second player of the evening to receive an early bath.
This was also the second red card that Rangers have received this season, with Ricky Modeste too being sent off in an FA Cup tie against Harpenden Town earlier this month.
Despite this setback, it was Concord who had the next couple of chances with Toussaint sending a drilled shot agonisingly wide of the far corner and Day's mistimed header from Liam Jones' free kick sailing over.
These missed chances would prove costly for Concord, with Tilbury striking two quick-fire goals to steal the three points.
Straight after coming off the bench, Best was played in behind and the striker slid the ball beneath Concord 'keeper Jacob Marsden and in with his first touch of the game.
The Dockers then doubled their lead straight after kick-off, with Concord giving away possession cheaply straight to Jones, who ran through on goal and beat Marsden.
This being the second season in a row in which the midfielder had scored against Concord, having also been on target in the Dockers' 2-0 win against the Beach Boys at Chadfields in January.
A first win of the campaign sees Tilbury move up to eighth with Marc Harrison's team now eight games unbeaten at home, a record that stretches back to February.
A second loss of the season for Concord means they are now winless in ten games in all competitions, with their last victory coming back in March.